Our Vendy Nomination: The Cart With the Pig’s Head

Now that the Vendy Awards have named their citizen judge, we’d like to offer up a nomination: La Esquina Del Sabor in Jackson Heights. Like the Guayaquileño truck next to it, the cart (parked on Warren Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Fridays through Sundays till 10 p.m.) advertises its hornado (roasted pig) via a photo of a whole lechón with an apple in its mouth, and it also displays the piggie’s head for all to see. In addition, the cart sells various other pig parts mixed with choclo (nutlike corn kernels), the most humongous blood sausages ever seen, and coconut and tamarind juices. We asked for a $10 plate of cracklings as well as some head meat, and the cart’s Ecuadorian operator simply snapped off an ear with her hand and threw it into a container that ended up so stuffed that closing it wasn’t an option (plates are wrapped in aluminum foil instead). Not quite as indulgent as eating a whole pig’s head (eyeballs included) at Boston’s Estragon, but definitely a must.